NewOrleansSaints.com will showcase one reason a day to get excited about the start of the 2014 New Orleans Saints Training Camp presented by Verizon. Today, No. 14 Rob Ryan and the Saints defense

The New Orleans Saints defense enters it second season under defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.

Last season, the Saints ranked fourth defensively in opponent net yards per game, the Saints also gave up 9.4 points per game fewer than in 2012 as they improved to fourth in the league in opponent points per game (19.0). New Orleans allowed an average of only 305.7 net yards per game, ranking second against the pass. Compared to last sea- son’s 440.1 yards allowed per game, the improvement of 134.4 net yards per game was the greatest improvement in the NFL since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.

The duo of defensive end Cameron Jordan and outside linebacker Junior Galette posted 12.5 and 12 sacks respectively, ranking fifth and sixth in the NFL in takedowns as the only league duo to each record at least 12 sacks. Inside linebacker Curtis Lofton finished with a team-best 139 tackles. On the back end of the defense, cornerback Keenan Lewis, a New Orleans native and shrewd offseason free agent acquisition, led the team with four interceptions.